First weekend

Round 1: 18 October 2008

Ian Kingston

With several players either permanently or temporarily
unavailable this season, finding players for the first pair of matches
– which happened also to be the only long-distance trip of the season –
proved interesting, especially for the new captain. In the end, with
some assistance from Neil Graham in particular, I was able to add three
players to the squad: West Nottingham's latest French star
(Mathieu Tournier), former Notts player Mark Jones (now living in
Swindon), and – at the last minute – Robert Willoughby.

The new boys had a mixed day. Mathieu held a significant
advantage as Notts 1 took on Poisoned Pawns 2 in a very evenly balanced
match. Unfortunately he was unable to force the win – a fate that also
befell Andy Walker and me. It was cruel, therefore, that with five of
us drawing a miscalculation by Mark decided the result in the
opposition's favour.

A 50:50 match going the wrong way is hardly a disaster, of
course. Notts 2, however, didn't have the luxury of a roughly
even contest. Conceding an average of 281 rating points per board to
Guildford A&DC 4, anything other than a whitewash could be
considered a success. For a while things looked quite promising, but
one by one the zeros started to appear on the scoresheet. In the end it
was the third of the debutants who scored the solitary half point,
Robert narrowly failing to beat his much higher rated opponent.

Poisoned Pawns 2

2057

–

Nottinghamshire 1

2051

1

Harley, Andrew

2211

½ – ½

Tournier, Mathieu

2268

2

Bailey, Kevin

2071

½ – ½

Walker, Andrew N

2070

3

McCorry, Robert T

2059

½ – ½

Levens, David

2005

4

McMahon, Paul

2018

½ – ½

Kingston, Ian

2002

5

Davison, Chris

2020

1 – 0

Jones, Mark

2015

6

Stewart, Ashley

1960

½ – ½

Taylor, Robert P

1944

3½ – 2½

Nottinghamshire 2

1878

–

Guildford A&DC 4

2159

1

Thompson, Brian

1935

0 – 1

Anderton, Matthew N

2232

2

Graham, Neil

1925

0 – 1

Richardson, Keith B

2194

3

Cranmer, Stan

1890

0 – 1

Jackson, Adrian

2206

4

Hill, Maurice J

1870

0 – 1

Adair, James

2072

5

Myers, Richard

1840

0 – 1

Chipanga, Takaedza

2146

6

Willoughby, Robert

1810

½ – ½

Punnett, Alan K

2102

½ – 5½

Round 2: 19 October 2008

Possibly the last thing any of us needed after a day of six
draws and six defeats was to be woken by a fire alarm at 3:00 a.m. on
Sunday morning. With a loudspeaker blaring out instructions to get out
of the building as quickly as possible, we (and all the other players
staying overnight) staggered out of the building in various states of
dishevelment. One or two (but none of us, I'm glad to say) had taken
the order to leave immediately at face value and were wearing only the
bare minimum – not a pretty sight. Fortunately, it was a false alarm,
so we all trudged back in and tried to get back to sleep.

It didn't affect us too badly. The first team's loss in Round
1 meant a relatively easy pairing against Oxford 3 in Round 2. Mark put
his first round loss behind him to win a game that he described as 'one
of the strangest I've played. Black blundered a piece on two separate
occasions and in each case got away
with it due to some chance tactics'. Everybody else except the captain
also won – I, however, failed to beat 12-year-old Maria Wang and was
somewhat relieved when she accepted my draw offer. (You can stop with
the jokes now guys.)

Notts 2 received another tough pairing – SCS – but this time
the rating difference was a more manageable 51 points per board. Brian
Thompson registered an excellent draw with Black on top board,
featuring an amazing rook sacrifice.

With
a win for Stan Cranmer and a draw for Neil Graham things were looking
good. Boards 4 and 5 didn't turn out so well though, leaving Robert to
try to pull things round. He had a sizeable advantage as the time
control approached, but was very short of time – about four minutes for
his last 12 moves. His opponent, however, was struggling to defend, and
gradually the clock times grew closer together. I left the playing hall
when the players were down to about two minutes each – I hate watching
that kind of time scramble. Five minutes later I went back in to find
that Robert had reached a completely winning position and had won on
time, salvaging a draw for the team.

Nottinghamshire 1

2051

–

Oxford 3

1839

1

Tournier, Mathieu

2268

1 – 0

Zhang, Marco

1975

2

Walker, Andrew N

2070

1 – 0

Harvey, Marcus R

1905

3

Levens, David

2005

1 – 0

Lai, Yi Ming

1835

4

Kingston, Ian

2002

½ – ½

Wang, Maria

1845

5

Jones, Mark

2015

1 – 0

Henbest, Kevin B

1795

6

Taylor, Robert P

1944

1 – 0

Wang, Anna

1680

5½ – ½

SCS

1929

–

Nottinghamshire 2

1878

1

Haydon, David

2148

½ – ½

Thompson, Brian

1935

2

Heard, Andrew H

1975

½ – ½

Graham, Neil

1925

3

Clarke, Sean A

1885

0 – 1

Cranmer, Stan

1890

4

Lutton, J Arnold

1874

1 – 0

Hill, Maurice J

1870

5

Bogoda, Sagara T

1870

1 – 0

Myers, Richard

1840

6

Scarry, Herbert

1823

0 – 1

Willoughby, Robert

1810

3 – 3

The next two rounds, on 6 and 7 December, should be fun. All
three divisions will be playing that weekend, so there'll be
grandmaster chess to watch.

Second weekend

A rarity: all three divisions playing in the same venue on the
same weekend. We third division hackers therefore got to rub shoulders
(almost literally) with a large number of Britain’s best players. I
lost count of the number of GMs present, but here’s a selection of
names to convey the flavour of the event: Speelman, Howell, Chandler,
Conquest, Hebden, Rowson, Flear, Wells, Davies... the list goes on! So
how did the Nottinghamshire contingent fare alongside such August
company?

Round 3: 6 December

Nottinghamshire 1 received an unexpected gift from Round 3
opponents The Full Ponty in the form of a default on Board 6. We were
notified in advance, so no one had to make a wasted trip. Very quickly
the score moved to 2–0, when Alex Combie, making his debut, turned what
looked like an exercise in pawn grabbing into an overwhelming kingside
attack. All was well on the other boards and a big score looked
possible, but it didn’t quite materialise. I overcame a slight
disadvantage from the opening and forced a repetition in a knight
endgame; David Levens’ position never quite delivered on its apparent
promise; and Richard Truman’s extra pawn never came to anything. With
the match won, Rob Richmond was left to try to find a win in what
looked like a level position, but it too proved elusive.

The second team had the misfortune to be paired against
Warwickshire Select 2, conceding around 170 rating points per board.
Brian Thompson and Richard Myers did well to draw (in fact, Richard
missed a win), but the opposition proved too strong overall. Maurice
Hill came closest to adding a half-point, but he eventually succumbed
in a long rook ending.

Nottinghamshire 1

2032

–

The Full Ponty

1997

1

Richmond, Robert J

2236

½ – ½

Sully, David

2135

2

Truman, Richard G

2035

½ – ½

Adams, Mark A

2034

3

Levens, David

2005

½ – ½

Perrett, David

1996

4

Kingston, Ian

2002

½ – ½

Robinson, David

1986

5

Combie, Alexander

1950

1 – 0

St Clair, Allan

1836

6

Place, William

1965

1 – 0

Default

4 – 2

Nottinghamshire 2

1901

–

Warwickshire Select 2

2078

1

Taylor, Robert P

1944

0 – 1

Galloway, Iain

2139

2

Thompson, Brian

1935

½ – ½

Malik, Dani

2125

3

Graham, Neil

1925

0 – 1

Malik, Kaiser

2075

4

Cranmer, Stan

1890

0 – 1

Webster, Paul

2095

5

Hill, Maurice J

1870

0 – 1

Cooper, David M

2085

6

Myers, Richard

1840

½ – ½

Weaving, Richard

1950

1 – 5

Round 4: 7 December

Board orders were shuffled to avoid players receiving the same
colour on both days, but whether or not this influenced the results is
hard to say. Against Bristol 2 the first team started well, with a
quick draw for Alex and an easy win for me (finally ending an
eight-game drawing streak in the competition). But then things started
to go badly. Richard dropped a pawn for nothing and was well beaten;
David was under a little pressure; and Rob had also lost a pawn. The
best hope for a win seemed to be Andy Walker’s game, but that came to
nothing, and when Rob failed to hold his position it was left to David
to try to level the match. He reached an advantageous endgame, but the
one fleeting winning chance slipped by.

Notts 2 looked like they were facing another beating against
Mind Sports, but they rose to the occasion. Neil Graham took an early
draw, after which two defeats made the situation look grim. The key
game was Bob Taylor’s on Board 1. About halfway through he assessed his
position as ‘desperate’, but a little while later he reached an endgame
with a piece for two pawns and his technique proved secure enough to
deliver the point against a much higher-rated opponent. Richard was
grinding out his second draw of the weekend, so the match came down to
Robert Willoughby’s apparently easy game on bottom board. Typically, of
course, his opponent played well above her notional strength, and at
one point appeared to have prospects of a perpetual check. But Robert
eventually extricated his king and brought home the point to level the
match.

Bristol 2

2030

–

Nottinghamshire 1

2050

1

Collier, David O

2089

1 – 0

Richmond, Robert J

2236

2

Humphreys, Jerry

2067

½ – ½

Walker, Andrew N

2070

3

Bass, John W

2099

½ – ½

Levens, David

2005

4

Littlejohns, David P

2066

1 – 0

Truman, Richard G

2035

5

Richardt, Mike

1951

½ – ½

Combie, Alexander

1950

6

Varley, Ed

1910

0 – 1

Kingston, Ian

2002

3½ – 2½

Mind Sports

1991

–

Nottinghamshire 2

1880

1

Ackley, Peter

2112

0 – 1

Taylor, Robert P

1944

2

Taylor, Robert K

2107

1 – 0

Cranmer, Stan

1890

3

Hardman, Michael J

2088

½ – ½

Graham, Neil

1925

4

Hawkins, Nick

2013

½ – ½

Myers, Richard

1840

5

Twitchell, Neville H

1983

1 – 0

Hill, Maurice J

1870

6

Chadwick, Susan E

1640

0 – 1

Willoughby, Robert

1810

3 – 3

Funding

The Executive Committee is likely to confirm that the teams'
entry fees for this season will be paid by charging a board fee of
£2.50 per game played (applied retrospectively). Update: a board fee of
£3.00 was set, with the first weekend not charged for.

Third weekend

Round 5: 7 February 2009

Ian Kingston

With snow forecast, the 4NCL management put in place a few
emergency rules for the third set of matches. Players could arrive up
to two hours late if affected by the weather, and would then play a
five-hour session instead of seven hours. Team captains would be
allowed to keep their mobile phones on until all their players had
arrived. As it turned out, apart from two teams that opted not to
travel just about everyone was present in good time.

Nottinghamshire 1 might have wished otherwise though. David
Levens made a slip coming out of the opening and fell to a withering
kingside attack; Alex Combie's complex position resolved itself into a
loss; and Will Place got into a tangle after a successful opening and
ended up losing. Trailing 3–0 after three hours' play was bad enough,
but to make matters worse I had made a mess of a won position and was
losing, while Brian Thompson's game was also bad. Only Rob Richmond
seemed likely to score. But then the tide turned. My opponent seemed
committed to creating severe time trouble for himself, and a succession
of errors cost him first the advantage and ultimately the game – a 15
minute think after the time control was reached led him to resign. A
couple of minutes later Rob forced resignation, so attention turned to
Brian's game. It looked as though he might hold the draw, but his
opponent played inaccurately until a position was reached in which
Brian had R + N
+ P vs. R + 3P, with the enemy king confined to the back
rank. There were winning chances, based on a mating attack, but if
White could exchange off the last black pawn these would evaporate.
Sure enough, a chance to do that arose, but White tried an alternative
route and ended up losing all three pawns. Brian duly converted to save
the match.

The second team were evenly matched against Halesowen.
Prospects looked very good after Bob Taylor secured a draw against a
strong opponent, and were made even better when Robert Willoughby won
on Board 6. Although Neil Graham was clearly in trouble, Stan Cranmer
had drawn and Richard Myers and Maurice Hill were both on top.
Unfortunately, neither of these two could force the win, and
Neil's defeat resulted in another 3–3 draw.

Nottinghamshire 1

2018

–

Oxford 2

2044

1

Richmond, Robert J

2223

1 – 0

Chapman, Graham W

2080

2

Levens, David

2009

0 – 1

Bruce, Dave

2091

3

Kingston, Ian

2023

1 – 0

Stembridge, Ed

2062

4

Combie, Alexander

1950

0 – 1

Morris, Graham

2022

5

Place, William

1965

0 – 1

Rawlinson, Chris

2047

6

Thompson, Brian

1938

1 – 0

Neatherway, Philip

1960

3 – 3

Nottinghamshire 2

1882

–

Halesowen

1882

1

Taylor, Robert P

1956

½ – ½

Pugh, Glyn D

2045

2

Graham, Neil

1925

0 – 1

Lee, Darren

1950

3

Cranmer, Stan

1890

½ – ½

Doran, Michael J

1855

4

Hill, Maurice J

1870

½ – ½

Llewelyn, John D

1815

5

Myers, Richard

1840

½ – ½

Peck, Windsor W

1845

6

Willoughby, Robert

1810

1 – 0

Pitt, Christopher

1780

3 – 3

Round 6: 8 February 2009

Ian Kingston

Round 6 took the opposite course for the first team compared
with the previous day. After a couple of hours it looked as though we
might score a big win: I had a big advantage from the opening, Will's
opponent was sacrificing unsoundly, David had a clear advantage, and
nobody else seemed worse. But this time everything swung against us.
Alex could only draw, while I missed a tactical point and turned a
likely win into a loss (ending a 19 game unbeaten run in the 4NCL – not
the best moment to do it). Meanwhile, Will was two pieces up but
finding his opponent's pair of advanced passed pawns awkward to deal
with. Andy Walker reached a level rook ending and drew, but Rob's
position turned nasty. Our best hope seemed to be David's game, where
he reached a B vs. N ending with an extra pawn. Sadly, the enemy pieces
proved to be well coordinated and the win was not to be found. Will did
eventually neutralise the enemy pawns, but Rob's defeat condemned us to
a narrow loss.

Nottinghamshire 2 received an unkind draw, facing the mostly
young players of AMCA Rhinos. The average rating difference of 61
points per board was probably somewhat greater in reality. Ratings
aren't everything, though. Brian seemed to be inspired by his heroics
of the previous evening and won convincingly, while Bob registered
another solid draw. Neil was in trouble again, but Robert had reached a
won ending when disaster struck, a simple blunder costing him the game.
Richard and Stan had drawn, but Neil was left trying to hold an endgame
the exchange down, which turned out not to be possible. A
draw was a good result in end though.

Round 7: 21 March 2009

Ian Kingston

The penultimate weekend
of the season was not, one would have
to say, our finest hour. But let’s beginning with
the good bit. Nottinghamshire 1 delivered the expected result against a
weak Mind Sports team. I had the good fortune to be playing an
opponent with
an ECF grade of 78, which meant a very quick 1–0 lead. Robert Richmond
followed with another win inside two hours. There were a couple of
nervous moments before the win was confirmed, most notably when Richard
Truman overlooked a knight fork in a good position. Fortunately he had
a decent reply that led to a draw. Andy Walker reached an endgame with
two rooks against a queen which the computer says was
significantly better for him, but with passed pawns for both
players it was not that easy for mere humans to assess. Tim
Walker's match-winning draw came in a sharp-looking position following
a knight sacrifice that gave him an advanced c-pawn. The only sensible
assessment of the position is 'unclear'. Last to
finish was David Levens, whose opponent generously gave him a 50 minute
start on the clock.

Over in the other room, though, things were
going pear-shaped in spectacular fashion. Bob Taylor missed a tactic
and lost material; Neil Graham's gambit pawn turned into an exchange
plus a pawn deficit; Will Place miscalculated a combination and found
himself a piece down; and Stan
Cranmer lost a piece after falling behind in development. (My
optimistic streak at first thought that he'd reached a level endgame,
but it turns out that I'm not very good at counting bishops.)

So that left Maurice Hill with a reasonable
position and Alex Combie with something that looked rather unclear.
Maurice quite reasonably took a draw, but Alex's position drifted
steadily downhill before a big mistake in a lost position cost huge
quantities of material.

Nottinghamshire 1

2080

–

Mind Sports

1908

1

Richmond, Robert J

2223

1 – 0

Ackley, Peter

2101

2

Walker, Tim

2125

½ – ½

Hardman, Michael J

2087

3

Walker, Andrew N

2070

½ – ½

Hawkins, Nick

2031

4

Levens, David

2009

1 – 0

Twitchell, Neville H

1976

5

Truman, Richard G

2028

½ – ½

Barr, Gabriel

1820

6

Kingston, Ian

2023

1 – 0

Chadwick, Susan E

1640

4½ – 1½

Guildford A&DC 5

1897

–

Nottinghamshire 2

1926

1

Shaw, Matthew

1925

1 – 0

Combie, Alexander

1950

2

Deswarte, Ian

1950

1 – 0

Place, William

1965

3

Waldock, Adrian

1925

1 – 0

Taylor, Robert P

1956

4

Quinn, Joseph

1835

1 – 0

Graham, Neil

1925

5

Lalic, Peter

1905

1 – 0

Cranmer, Stan

1890

6

Albrecht, Theo

1840

½ – ½

Hill, Maurice J

1870

5½ – ½

Round 8: 22 March 2009

Ian Kingston

Sunday saw the first
team given a relatively
kind downfloat to a weaker team. Although we were less strong than on
Saturday, a second win was a more than reasonable ambition. Things
started quite brightly: Rob, having played both sides of the Czech
Benoni in February’s matches, now found himself doing the same
with the Dutch Defence, winning with a nice sacrificial attack:

Richard survived
some pressure to chalk up a draw. I bluffed my opponent into a dubious
rook ending instead of a drawn pawn ending and won again, at which
point I went off to the analysis room confident that Will's beautiful
bishop pair and extra pawn would win the match. Although Alex was in
trouble, David's
position looked no worse than drawn.

Half an hour later I
returned to find that Alex had lost, as expected. What I didn't expect
to see was Will two pawns down and about to lose a third, while David
had also dropped a pawn. Sadly, there were no miracles to be had, and
yet another 3½–2½ defeat – our fourth of the season – was registered.

So
could Notts 2 bounce back? Unfortunately, there was bad news even
before play started. Maurice, despite feeling unwell, had made the
journey to the venue, but was too ill to play. It may not have been a
wise decision to make the trip, but the effort was appreciated.

At
the board, Bob did reverse his Saturday result (a typical result
against a stronger opponent), but no one else could score a full point.
Richard Myers and Robert Willoughby, fresh (if that's the word) from
the MCCU U125 final on Saturday, both drew, as did Stan. Neil's
dreadful season continued, resulting in a narrow defeat.

Littlethorpe 2

1955

–

Nottinghamshire 1

2033

1

Bingham, James T

1945

0 – 1

Richmond, Robert J

2223

2

Ireland, David J

1997

1 – 0

Levens, David

2009

3

Hewitt, Sean D

1995

½ – ½

Truman, Richard G

2028

4

Deacon, Paul

1930

0 – 1

Kingston, Ian

2023

5

Watkinson, Phil K

1950

1 – 0

Combie, Alexander

1950

6

Turvey, Steven

1915

1 – 0

Place, William

1965

3½ – 2½

Nottinghamshire 2

1884

–

Celtic Tigers 2

1878

1

Taylor, Robert P

1956

1 – 0

Evans, Craig

2030

2

Graham, Neil

1925

0 – 1

Fathallah, Joe

1962

3

Cranmer, Stan

1890

½ – ½

O'Grady, Gary

1926

4

Default

–

0 – 1

Larter, Nick

1807

5

Myers, Richard

1840

½ – ½

Wagner, Guy

1830

6

Willoughby, Robert

1810

½ – ½

Buttell, David

1714

2½ – 3½

Fifth weekend

Round 9: 2 May 2009

There’s a certain inverted logic about perverse results: fielding our
strongest team since the opening weekend, and with almost 100 points
per board advantage, Nottinghamshire 1 quite naturally slumped to the
worst defeat of the season, losing 4–2 to FCA Solutions 2. Of course,
average ratings don’t tell the whole story. Most of our advantage was
on Boards 1 and 6, but the other four were evenly balanced. I found
stiff resistance at the bottom end, but an oversight by my opponent
allowed a quick finish. In the diagram, White has just played 22.f4? to
counter the threat of ...f5, although that’s not too dangerous.

Shaw–Kingston: Black to play

I was sure there was something for me here, but efforts to
make 22...Re8 or 22...Bb4 work were inconclusive. Finally, almost in
desperation, I looked at 22...Ba6!,
and all became clear: White must lose material. The game ended 23.Qxa6 (23.Qd2 Bb4
24.Bxa6 Bxd2 25.Bxd2 Qf6 is also fairly straightforward) 23...Qxe3+ 24.Kg2 Bb4 25.Rf1 Rc2
26.Rf2 Re8 0-1.

But that, unfortunately, was the high water mark. David Levens lost
after trying too hard to win; Pete Mercs saw what appeared to be a nice
position drift into unpleasantness and also lost; and yet another
unfathomable Rob Richmond effort petered out into a draw. With a solid
draw from Andy Walker, Richard Truman’s game became critical, but by
this point winning was out of the question. An attractive attacking
position yielded no more than an endgame in which Richard had three
pawns for a sacrificed piece, but his opponent was able to chip away at
the pawns while avoiding losing his own. Richard finally capitulated
well into the final hour of play.

Much better news, however, for Nottinghamshire 2. Facing the AMCA
Hippos, Robert Willoughby posted a straightforward win, although this
was soon offset by Neil Graham’s defeat. Alex Combie scored a steady
draw on top board, but things were a little unclear on the remaining
boards. Bob Taylor’s opponent arrived 45 minutes late, but such
disadvantages mean little to juniors. In the end, Bob weathered the
storm successfully, finishing with an extra piece. Maurice Hill’s game
went through a tactical interlude with errors on both sides, but he
finally emerged with a piece for two pawns and had no difficulty
securing the win.

With the match won, it remained only for Brian Thompson to turn his
pressure into a win, which he duly achieved after his opponent cracked
just before the first time control.

Nottinghamshire 1

2071

–

FCA Solutions 2

1985

1

Richmond, Robert J

2223

½ – ½

Kendall, Paul S N

2063

2

Walker, Andrew N

2070

½ – ½

Valentine, Brian J

1997

3

Mercs, Peter J

2075

0 – 1

Williamson, Kevin J

2020

4

Levens, David

2009

0 – 1

Elwin, Adrian G

2009

5

Truman, Richard G

2028

0 – 1

Matthews, Adrian

1924

6

Kingston, Ian

2023

1 – 0

Shaw, John S

1895

2 – 4

Nottinghamshire 2

1908

–

AMCA Hippos

1725

1

Combie, Alexander

1950

½ – ½

Moore, Andrew

1845

2

Thompson, Brian

1938

1 – 0

Marley, Andrew

1805

3

Taylor, Robert P

1956

1 – 0

Periasamymanjula, Mani.

1718

4

Graham, Neil

1925

0 – 1

Ward, Matthew J

1760

5

Hill, Maurice J

1870

1 – 0

Malhotra, Tarun

1730

6

Willoughby, Robert

1810

1 – 0

Coates, Christine (F)

1490

4½ – 1½

Round 10: 3 May 2009

Notts 1 resumed normal service with yet another 3½–2½ defeat
against Iceni – very beatable opposition. Richard’s marathon effort on
Saturday may have contributed to his rapid loss, but the English
language lacks an appropriate adjective to describe the disaster, so
I’ll just say ‘horrible’ and leave it at that. In any case, it
shouldn’t have mattered: I won a clean extra pawn, David had what
looked like a straightforward technical win, and Andy was well on top.
Brian dropped a pawn but held the ensuing rook ending easily enough,
while Rob also drew. But then it all went pear-shaped. I missed a
knight fork and was relieved to be offered a draw in a worse position
and Andy let his advantage slip, which left David to save the match.
Unfortunately a single oversight had turned his comfortable win into a
desperate struggle to save the game. He managed it, but that was all.

Notts 2, however, were making hay against Littlethorpe 3. Stan
Cranmer raced into a won rook ending while most of us were still in the
opening. Robert won quickly and Neil drew, but although Alex held an
advantage both Bob and Maurice were struggling. It didn’t seem to
matter though: Maurice’s opponent mishandled the clock and
simultaneously blundered and overstepped the time limit, Alex converted
his queenside pressure into a win, and Bob held on to draw a pawn down,
resulting in a 5–1 win that also saw Notts 2 jump above the first team
in the table.

Iceni

2039

–

Nottinghamshire 1

2049

1

Reynolds, D Ian

2108

½ – ½

Richmond, Robert J

2223

2

Lunn, Timothy

2056

½ – ½

Walker, Andrew N

2070

3

Feavyour, John

2073

1 – 0

Truman, Richard G

2028

4

Botham, Paul

2042

½ – ½

Levens, David

2009

5

Donaghay, Richard

1969

½ – ½

Kingston, Ian

2023

6

Szymanski, Mark

1985

½ – ½

Thompson, Brian

1938

3½ – 2½

Nottinghamshire 2

1900

–

Littlethorpe 3

1758

1

Combie, Alexander

1950

1 – 0

Turvey, Steven

1915

2

Taylor, Robert P

1956

½ – ½

Farrall, David J

1812

3

Cranmer, Stan

1890

1 – 0

Jones, Michael

1835

4

Graham, Neil

1925

½ – ½

Harrison, Peter K

1680

5

Hill, Maurice J

1870

1 – 0

Dean, Michael

1735

6

Willoughby, Robert

1810

1 – 0

Ricketts, David

1570

5 – 1

Round 11: 4 May 2009

The final ignominy – Nottinghamshire 1 not only finished up
behind the second team, but actually slipped further behind. It was
gruesome stuff: despite a 200 points per board average rating
advantage, with a significant difference in our favour on every single
board, we were lucky to escape with a 3–3 draw.

Alex had no trouble despatching his young opponent, but on top board
Rob’s king was being frog-marched all over the board in an apparently
forlorn attempt to avoid calamity. Rob resigned, but Fritz thinks that
the position might actually have been slightly better for him! Richard
made a finger slip that saw him staring down the barrel, and Brian
dropped an exchange for nothing. My opponent played the very odd 1.d4
Nf6 2. c4 e6 3.Nc3 d6, so I was making things up from scratch very
early on. Fortunately for me there was no cunning master plan behind
Black’s setup. By now, David was facing a speculative exchange
sacrifice. He defended carefully and at one point was actually winning,
but the chance and the game slipped away.

At 2–2, with bad positions on the remaining boards, we were braced for
the worst, but Richard’s opponent got his move order confused and
dropped a piece. And then, just for a moment, it seemed that Brian
might somehow wriggle out. His opponent didn’t seem to know how to use
his material advantage, and reached both the first and second time
controls with seconds to spare. It wasn’t quite enough though – a last
ditch stalemate trap failed, and that was that.

Meanwhile, the (relatively) high-flying Notts 2 eased to a very
comfortable 4–2 victory against Bristol 2. Robert had an easy win on
bottom board and Maurice and Stan took steady draws. Bob did his
customary job on Board 1, holding a much higher rated opponent to a
draw. This effectively secured the match as both Will Place and Richard
Myers were pressing for victory in rook and pawn endings. Will duly
converted his, but Richard finally had to concede the half-point.

Nottinghamshire 1

2029

–

SCS

1828

1

Richmond, Robert J

2223

0 – 1

Baptie, Justin P

2101

2

Levens, David

2009

0 – 1

Gedvilas, Arunas

1950

3

Kingston, Ian

2023

1 – 0

Fonseca, Antonio

1875

4

Truman, Richard G

2028

1 – 0

Lutton, J Arnold

1847

5

Thompson, Brian

1938

0 – 1

Hardy-Wallace, Daniel

1820

6

Combie, Alexander

1950

1 – 0

Ballard, Edward

1375

3 – 3

Bristol 2

1870

–

Nottinghamshire 2

1889

1

Bass, John W

2101

½ – ½

Taylor, Robert P

1956

2

Humphreys, Jerry

2076

0 – 1

Place, William

1965

3

White, Martin

1980

½ – ½

Cranmer, Stan

1890

4

Varley, Ed

1910

½ – ½

Hill, Maurice J

1870

5

Woolgar, Stephen

1760

½ – ½

Myers, Richard

1840

6

Taylor, John Paul

1395

0 – 1

Willoughby, Robert

1810

3½ – 2½

Summary

The final table on the 4NCL web site shows that
Nottinghamshire 2 finished 18th (of 32 teams) with 10 points, while
Nottinghamshire 1 were 23rd with 8 points. These positions are a little
misleading – Notts 1 scored 34½ game points (out of 66) whereas Notts 2
scored just 30; and Notts 1 also faced much stronger opposition. But
losing five matches by a 3½–2½ margin was hugely frustrating.

I’d like to thank all the members of the squad for making my life as
captain particularly easy. Particular thanks go to the drivers, who
took care of practically all of the detailed travel arrangements and
were as flexible as ever when asked to go out of their way.

For personal reasons I am reluctantly relinquishing the captaincy – I
can’t commit to all five weekends for 2009–10. I trust that my
successor will have a little more luck with results!